


Poor Moony

by sunflow_rs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hogwarts, James Being an Idiot, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Minor Frank Longbottom/Alice Longbottom, Minor Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 01:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11863869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflow_rs/pseuds/sunflow_rs
Summary: Peter looked amusingly between his two friends. “What’s going on?”Sirius huffed, running a hand through his long hair as he stared at James challengingly. “Prongs doesn't think I can get as many dates as him.”Peter laughed, rolling his eyes as he flopped onto his four poster bed. This kind of argument was typical within the group, particularly between James and Sirius. “Getting dates is hardly difficult for either of you.” He paused to open a chocolate frog, sighing when his card was Waffling. “Anyone in school would date you, Merlin probably even Dumbledore would. The only people who wouldn't are us.”James smirked, locking eyes with Sirius. “Oh, it’s on.”Peter, realising what he’d done, stopped chewing and groaned aloud. “Poor Moony.”





	Poor Moony

Peter looked amusingly between his two friends. “What’s going on?”

Sirius huffed, running a hand through his long hair as he stared at James challengingly. “Prongs doesn't think I can get as many dates as him.”

Peter laughed, rolling his eyes as he flopped onto his four poster bed. This kind of argument was typical within the group, particularly between James and Sirius. “Getting dates is hardly difficult for either of you.” He paused to open a chocolate frog, sighing when his card was Waffling. “Anyone in school would date you, Merlin probably even Dumbledore would. The only people who wouldn't are us.”

James smirked, locking eyes with Sirius. “Oh, it’s on.”

Peter, realising what he’d done, stopped chewing and groaned aloud. “Poor Moony.”

✩ ✩ ✩

James took the more direct route. He seemed to always be confident in this tactic despite it never working with Lily and coming away with rejection each time. Sirius thought that his friend would have learned by now, however as he watched from under the stolen invisibility cloak, he saw James approach Remus with a flirtatious smile. 

“Hey, Moony.” James said, sauntering over to the table Remus was working at in the library. 

“What do you want?” The werewolf said mumbling, his wand being held loosely in his mouth as he turned the pages of a book and wrote with his quill at the same time. 

“The Hogsmeade trip is coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?”

Remus frowned and Sirius stifled a laugh. He had to keep quiet as James would kill him if he found out Sirius had taken his cloak and was using it to spy on him in their challenge. Peter saw him take it, but of them all Wormtail was the best at keeping secrets, particularly if there was food to bribe him with. 

“I already am going with you, James.” Remus said, taking the cypress wand from his mouth in order to speak. “All of us are going together, as usual.”

James ran a hand through his messy hair, flustered, and Sirius doubted that Prongs could go through with the challenge and actually elaborate on what he meant by ‘going to Hogsmeade.’ James Potter was full of surprises however, and Sirius fondly remembered the time where he had surprised him with Christmas at the Potters' rather than at the dusty, archaic 12 Grimmauld Place. 

“No.” James said, taking a breath and looking like he wanted to escape. “I meant as a date.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow from underneath the cloak, but despite his cool attitude there was a feeling in his stomach that made him feel like this was very wrong. James shouldn't be asking Moony out on a date. There was something weird about it, almost like James and Sirius dating. 

Remus’ quill jerked of the page, ink splattering over his parchment. He looked up at his friend, green eyes narrowed as he took in James’ sheepish form, scratching the back of his neck embarrassedly. “Are you trying to prank me?” 

Sirius moved from his space in the corner of the library in order to see Remus’ reaction more clearly. His heart wrenched when he saw the boy’s scarred face twisted in annoyance and slight sadness.

“You’re trying to get me to say who I have a crush on, aren’t you James?”

That was news to Sirius. The fact that Remus fancied someone would make his chance of winning this challenge even harder, and he couldn’t just quit; his pride and ego forced him to continue. As he snuck out of the library, he bit his bottom lip, trying to brainstorm ways to get Remus to go on a date with him.

✩ ✩ ✩

The Gryffindor common room was empty aside from a few other seventh years. Sirius believed that the other year levels had finally realised they were never going to find peaceful study time there while the marauders were still in school. 

The fire crackled and burned, providing a warm glow to the area while Sirius lounged on a wing backed chair, watching the chaos ensure in front of him. Pete and James were playing yet another game of exploding snap, the latter desperate to beat Peter’s record of wins. Remus had fallen asleep from watching their many games, most likely still tired from the past full moon. His face was pressed against a red and gold cushion, light snores falling from his partially open mouth. 

Sirius couldn't help but divert his attention from exploding snap to the napping Gryffindor. When sleeping, Remus looked peaceful and like any other Hogwarts student, if it weren’t for his scars then Sirius could have almost forgotten that the seventeen year old turned into a werewolf once a month.

Smirking, Sirius kept his attention on the napping Remus and began singing. “A wema way, a wema way, a wema way, a wema way…”

Moony woke, not bothering to lift his head, instead making eye contact with Sirius and glaring at him. “No.”

“In the jungle, the mighty jungle!” James joined in, while Peter laughed in the background. 

“The werewolf sleeps tonight!” The three sang, and Remus couldn’t be mad despite them waking him. When he first started at Hogwarts his father told him that people might be scared of him and not want to be friends. His eleven-year old self didn't know how lucky he would be. 

✩ ✩ ✩

“Have you asked Remus yet?” James asked Sirius, the two waiting outside Honeydukes while Peter and Moony spent all of their galleons on chocolate and candy.

“Not yet.” Sirius kicked some of the snow at his feet, annoyed at how long it was taking him to decide on a plan for ensuring Remus said yes to going a date with him. It wasn't like it really mattered if Remus said no, only a chip would come off his ego, yet Sirius felt like it was something more. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, but as he stared across Hogsmeade at Frank and Alice holding hands, he started to understand what his brain had been trying to tell him.

“Merlin’s beard.” Sirius breathed, eyes wide and moving from Longbottom and his girlfriend to Remus stepping out of Honeydukes with a bag of chocolate. 

“Merlin’s beard, what?” Remus asked, obliviously to the storm of realisation currently occurring in Sirius’ head. 

“How much chocolate do you need?” Sirius asked, saving himself from the truth and momentarily taking his mind of the fact that he may be developing a bit of a crush on Moony. 

Remus looked down at his bag of goodies sheepishly. “A lot? But not as much as Wormtail got.”

Sirius shook his head, laughing as Peter joined them with a Honeydukes bag somehow bigger than Remus’. The four friends continued walking through Hogsmeade, contemplating over going to Tomes and Scrolls or the Three Broomsticks. 

“I need to stock up on dungbombs.” Sirius spoke, breath turning into mist in the frosty air. “I’m gonna quickly go to Zonko’s but I’ll meet you all for a butter beer later.”

Sirius was glad when none of them offered to join him, especially Remus, as seeing the red shop sign had given him an idea for asking Moony out. It would be good to get the challenge over with before his feelings had developed even more. 

The bell chimed as Sirius pushed open the door, but it was nearly inaudible due to the loud chatter of students all looking at different products. He adjusted his red scarf, the temperature in the shop significantly warmer than outside, and headed towards the very pink love potions stand. Sirius wished for James’ invisibility cloak in this moment, as many students would wonder why he was purchasing a love potion and it wouldn't take long for word to get around Hogwarts. He had to make this plan work, and fast. 

✩ ✩ ✩

Remus had bought a lot of chocolate from Hogsmeade so it wasn't hard for Sirius to magically insert the love potion into one of the treats. There was only the potential for Remus to be affected by the potion, as Moony was very possessive over his chocolate so Sirius knew that no one else would risk eating it. There was one problem though. It had been a week since Hogsmeade and Sirius knew Remus had eaten the chocolate that contained the potion but there had been no change. Sirius was no amateur to love potions, he had used a fair few in his time on the likes of James in order to embarrass him, but he was confused as to why Remus hadn't shown the same giddy and obsessive affections over Sirius because of it. 

“Hey Padfoot, game of chess?” Remus asked, already setting out the rooks into their corners.

Sirius felt bad about turning him down but shook his head nevertheless. “I’m going to the library to meet up with Marlene.”

“The library, Pads. Scandalous.” James wiggled his eyebrows and Peter laughed, small hand covering his mouth. 

“Shut up, James.” Sirius avoided looking at Remus, hating having to lie to the three of them, particularly Moony. Marlene and Sirius had never even dated, the two just being good friends and Sirius providing a cover for the fellow Gryffindor and her girlfriend, Dorcas. 

The library was quiet and almost absent of people when Sirius entered, immediately going to look for books on love potions. One in particular caught his eye with a green fabric cover, the name ‘Laverne de Montmorency’ written in black ink down the spine. Running a finger down the index on the second page, Sirius sat down at a desk and flipped to the page on love potions. 

_‘Love potions will work regardless of whether the giver is present when the recipient consumes them. If the potion is of a high quality brew then there is only one instance in where its effects will not work on the consumer, and that is if the person is already in love with the potion-giver.’_

Sirius slammed the book shut. Laverne de Montmorency was the inventor of love potions, so she knew what she was talking about, however Sirius failed to see any reality in which Remus Lupin was in love with him. It was like his brain couldn’t get enough of the notion, as he kept opening and closing the novel and rereading the paragraph until he got so sick of the routine he eventually put it back on the shelf. 

The more Sirius considered it being true, the more evidence appeared that seemed to back it up. Like Remus proclaiming his patronus was a wolf cub when it seemed to resemble more of a domesticated animal, like a dog. Him letting Sirius sleep in his bed a few nights after he was denied the right to the Black family name. Sirius and James would occasionally share a bed (rather than have him sleep on the couch at the Potters’) but Prongs had never wrapped his arms around Sirius like Remus did. Also, Moony saying he had a crush to both Peter and James without telling them who, or even saying to Sirius he had one in the first place.

Shoving his robe back on, Sirius rushed out of the library and headed for the Gryffindor tower, hoping that Remus was still awake. After murmuring a hurried “Gorgon’s blood” to the fat lady, he pushed past the painting into the room highly decorated with reds and golds. 

Remus was perched on the arm of Sirius’ usual seat, reading while Peter and James loudly discussed the perks of adding insults to the map. Sirius barely noticed the other two marauders, his attention fixed on the mousy haired werewolf who was apparently in love with him. Without even thinking of the consequences, Sirius marched over to his friend and, clutching Remus’ already loose tie, pressed his lips against Moony’s. 

There was silence when they pulled away, with Sirius out of breath from both the kiss and his fast pace back to the common room. Remus’ eyelids fluttered open, looking initially confused but happy as the previous event washed over him. 

The quiet didn't last long however, interrupted by James’ clapping. “I hope you know this doesn't mean you've won yet, Sirius. A kiss doesn't substitute for a date.”

The change in Remus’ expression broke Sirius as he was immediately pushed away. Hurt evident behind the bottle green eyes that his scars so desperately tried to take the attention away from. “This was a prank then.”

“James, you absolute moron.” Sirius said, stumbling after Remus pushing him. He frantically ran a hand through his black hair, wanting desperately to fix this before the werewolf could leave the room. “It wasn't for the challenge, the challenge was stupid. I kissed Remus because I like- I love him.”

“You love me?” Remus’ voice was small, but his eyes were wide, looking up at Sirius with intense emotion.

Sirius nodded, a slight smile appearing on his sharp featured face. “Yeah, I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought of it and if you have any fanfic requests :)


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